1. DrIVER Kick-Off Meeting – Drought Impacts: Vulnerability thresholds in monitoring and Early-warning Research (DrIVER) The multinational DrIVER project funded under the Belmont Forum’s Freshwater Security scheme was kicked-off in early January. The consortium comprising five research institutions from three continents (US, Europe, and Australia) met in Freiburg, Germany, to jumpstart the joint research project. The goal of DriVER is to improve drought monitoring and early warning (M&EW) systems through linking hydro- meteorological drought indicators with drought impacts, and to develop new practices enabling communities to build capacity for resilience to drought. The innovation of the project lies in the combination of the use of hydro-meteorological, ecological and socio-economic data, including impact reports, alongside social learning approaches designed to incorporate stakeholders’ views and experiences of drought. (1) to compare and evaluate reported drought impacts and physical drought indicators across different geographical settings and governance systems, primarily in the USA, Europe and Australia where drought M&EW systems exist The Main Objectives (3) to engage, through a series of strategy- game workshops, into social learning in order to explore the framings, decision- making and practices relating to drought across a range of stakeholders, and explore conflicts and trade-offs (2) to identify and compare thresholds of drought indicators that define the vulnerability of society, ecosystem services and economy to a range of drought impacts in order to better understand and model the coupled socio-ecological system (4) to develop pathways to drought resilient human communities and ecosystems based on improvement of targeted drought M&EW systems, drought management and training +

2. Project Consortium Chair of Hydrology, University of Freiburg, Germany Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford/England Open University, Milton Keynes/England, National Drought Mitigation Centre, University of Nebraska-Lincoln/USA Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia Project Outline Drought events pose a threat to water security in virtually every climate zone and to every water use sector. Although little can be done to prevent a drought, actions can be taken to reduce the vulnerability of society, including the development of drought monitoring and early warning (M&EW) systems. There have been few attempts to assess how relevant widely-used physical indicators are for capturing drought severity, effects and impacts, and such impacts have not been adequately incorporated into existing drought M&EW systems. This project seeks to fill this gap by improving the link between hydro-meteorological drought characterisation and environmental and socio-economic impacts. An innovative methodological approach will combine the use of hydro-meteorological and socio-economic data, including impact reports, alongside social learning approaches designed to incorporate stakeholders’ views and experiences of drought. The project helps to move towards an improved water management before, during, and after drought events transferable to the global level.